The goal of the NIH Design Policy and Guidelines is to ensure the quality of design and construction of NIH state-of-the-art facilities that are vital to the health care of all Americans is conducted.  NIH Design Policy and Guidelines  establish policy, design standards, and technical criteria for use in programming, designing, and constructing new buildings, and major alterations for the NIH.

The November 2003 NIH Design Policy and Guidelines represents a major restructuring and reorganization of the previous version of the NIH Design Policy and Guidelines. It incorporates the NIH Planning and Programmatic Guidelines, resulting in a consolidated planning and design document for the NIH design and construction program.

The NIH Design Policy and Guidelines establishes policy, design standards and technical criteria for use in programming, designing, and constructing new buildings, and major and minor alterations for the NIH. This document applies to the design and construction for all NIH facilities nationwide, including those that are owned by NIH and those that are leased by the Federal Government for use by the NIH. NIH grantees should refer to their Grants Officer for application of the NIH Design Policy and Guidelines to specific construction grants.

The NIH Design Policy and Guidelines provides minimum quality standards that are performance oriented to the greatest extent possible to obtain a desired result. The NIH recognizes that an essential aspect of the design professional's responsibility is originality and imaginative design.

The Design Policy and Guidelines are the responsibility of the  Division of Technical Resources (DTR). 

For all technical inquiries, comments and suggestions, please email the Office of Research Facilities, Division of Technical Resources at ms252u@nih.gov.

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